


Weird Feelings

by Zeroro



Category: We Bare Bears (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 12:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17642972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeroro/pseuds/Zeroro
Summary: After Nom Nom finds himself unable to control his anger, he goes on a temporary hiatus from being a celebrity and seeks out a place where he can lay low in the meantime. Luckily, Grizz is there for him (like he always is). Spending more time with Grizz ends up giving Nom Nom newfound feelings that he's never experienced before, and he can't seem to figure them out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I actually started writing around two years ago, a little after Anger Management aired. I left it alone for over a year and came back to it kind of out of nowhere recently because I love the big, happy, gay bear and the small, angry, gay koala. It's still not done as of my writing this, but I finally wanted to put what I had out there for those (like me!) who're desperately looking for more GrizzNom stuff. This is for the handful of you out there. :>
> 
> Also, this is kind of my first fic I've ever written, really. Please excuse the trite writing.

"So, uh... see ya!"

Nom Nom began walking towards the exit of the recording studio, away from the dejected-looking grizzly bear.

"Hey, man... how about one for the road?" Grizz asked, putting his arms up expectantly, even though the koala wasn't even looking at him at this point.

To his surprise, Nom Nom slowly turned around and walked towards him, though not before making sure nobody else was around to see what was about to happen. The bear had done him a real solid today, so he figured this was as good a way as any to say goodbye. Once he was close enough, Grizz gently picked him up, pressing him against his chest in an affectionate embrace. Nom Nom continued to look around, desperately hoping nobody saw this happening; it looks like he was safe for now, as the entire crew had wrapped and left the studio for the day. As the bear continued to hug him, his guard lowered, more and more. Just as the several other times Grizz had hugged him in an attempt to placate him during his "anger management," he felt strangely at ease, in a way he couldn't really articulate, even to himself.

It helped that the bear was warm and fuzzy.

Before he knew it, he had closed his eyes, almost as if he was drifting to sleep. It took a few seconds for him to realize what was happening, and he snapped back awake.

Making sure it didn't last too long, the koala put an abrupt end to the hug. "OK... put me down!" he demanded. Grizz complied, gently placing him back down onto the floor. Returning to his usual demeanor, Nom Nom scowled at Grizz. "Hey! This never happened." He finally turned and walked away from the bear, not even bothering to hear his response. As he left the studio, an extravagant limousine was waiting for him. One of his many personal bodyguards was standing by the door, and he opened it as Nom Nom approached. Without missing a beat, the bodyguard hurried to pick Nom Nom up, putting him in his seat at the back of the limousine, and he closed the door before walking to signal the driver that Nom Nom was inside the vehicle. Out of a small speaker by the door, a voice blared. "Are you ready to return home, sir?" Nom Nom pressed a button next to the speaker, simply responding with an affirmative grunt. At his command, the limo began to accelerate, and the koala finally loosened up, sighing and resting his head on the back of the seat. He was thoroughly exhausted from the several hours he had spent recording for that stupid show. Just thinking about it made him groan, but he was finally through with it. The "anger management" with Grizz had worked, at least for getting him through The Corgis, and he was quick to end the affair as soon as he had accomplished what he needed to do. Upon Grizz asking him what he was going to do about his anger issues moving forward, the koala didn't have the best answer. "Eh, I'm rich and famous. I'll figure something out," was all he could think to say in response. Nom Nom continued to think about Grizz's question. He was good for now, but what if something similar happened down the road? "If it wasn't for the bear, I probably wouldn't have even been able to seal the deal on the whole Corgis thing," he thought to himself. Frustrated, he opted not to think about it anymore. "Ugh, whatever!" he exclaimed, without really meaning to. Immediately, the driver's voice blared through the speaker again. "Is something wrong, sir?" he asked. "No, idiot, just shut up and keep driving!" the koala yelled back. He was furious again, and he didn't even realize it.

Would he really be able to contain his anger without Grizz? Is this a problem he'd actually be able to solve simply by throwing money at it? Nom Nom didn't want to think about the possibility of it not working out, so he tried to fall asleep in an attempt to forget the whole thing.

By the time the limousine had pulled into the garage of the mansion, the sun had almost completely set, and Nom Nom was still asleep. Another one of his bodyguards opened the car door, and he slowly shook the koala awake. "Mr. Nom Nom, sir, you've arrived at the mansion." Nom Nom quickly awoke. "H-huh, what? Oh..." was all he could mutter in the moment. The assistant proceeded to carry him out of the vehicle and into the mansion's dining room. One of Nom Nom's personal gourmet chefs was hard at work, cooking up an elaborate, exotic meal for the koala. The assistant placed Nom Nom down. "Dinner will be ready in just a moment, sir." Nom Nom slowly began to remember what he had been thinking about on the ride home, as well as the day's happenings: the therapy session, the sudden return of Grizz back into his life and the extensive anger management techniques he employed... and worst of all, that stupid theme song. His temper began to rise again. "No, you know what? I'm done for today." He pointed a claw at a nearby assistant. "You. Cancel any other appointments I had for today," he barked, before turning to the chef. "And you! Stop what you're doing and get out of here. All of you! GET OUT, AND DON'T COME BACK UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING!" There were others nearby, each doing their assigned tasks for the day in regards to mansion upkeep. Though outbursts were relatively common, there had never been an instance in which they had all been called off early for the day. Not wanting to further anger their employer, they immediately stopped what they were doing and hurriedly found their way to an exit. As the chef turned a variety of cooking appliances off, the bodyguard responded out of confusion. "B-but sir, I..." The koala quickly cut him off. "Hey, no, stop! Do what I told you to do and get out of my mansion, you idiot! Or do you want to lose your job?" At that, the bodyguard simply bowed and left the koala alone. Nom Nom began to walk upstairs to his bedroom. Still, people were making their way to an exit; orders from Nom Nom spread quickly.

The walls of the mansion were lined with various works of art involving Nom Nom, some of them plays on existing works of art. As he finally made his way to the top of the stairs and outside his bedroom door, Nom Nom fiddled with an electronic interface at his level by the door. He placed his paw on the interface's scanner and immediately heard a tone of confirmation. A list of commands showed up on the screen, one of them labeled 'Intercom.' As he pressed it, a microphone popped out from underneath the interface. "In case any of you somehow didn't hear, I want you all out of here! Get out! If you're not gone in the next 30 seconds, you're fired! And I've got cameras everywhere, so I'll be able to tell if you stick around," he said in a menacing tone. Right after that, he returned to the main menu of the interface and opened a menu labeled "Lights," and as he pushed it, a list of every room in the mansion popped up. One by one, he toggled the settings to "off," and as he did, lights across the mansion began to turn off. Finally, he reached the light setting for the main hall and switched it off. Right above him, the lights went out, and he finally exited the interface after tapping the option to unlock his bedroom door. With that complete, he made his way through a custom entrance made specifically for him on the door.

The room was huge; it was bigger than it had any right to be, especially for somebody of his size. He slowly trudged to his bed, climbing a series of steps to reach the top of it. It was big enough to fit a dozen average-sized people. On a normal night, his mansion would be filled with people. He'd be holding a party. But something about today's events had left him exhausted in a way that was particularly unusual. Right now, he had no tolerance for loud noises or appointments with reporters or commercial shoots or anything like that; all he wanted to do was lay in bed and think to himself, even if it made him angry. He had a jumble of thoughts in his head, and he knew he wouldn't be able to actually sleep until he sorted them out. He finally laid his head down on a pillow, getting underneath the sheets. The room was completely dark, and there weren't any other sounds than the ones he made himself as he shifted his body in the bed.

He thought back to what he had told Grizz before leaving the studio. While it was true that he was rich and famous, he didn't truly think he could take care of his anger issues just with money; after all, he had already tried. There was an extensive amount of therapy sessions from several different therapists that he had already taken, and none of them had worked. That was exactly why his agent had resorted to calling Grizz in the first place. Initially, he completely dismissed the idea, telling Grizz to his face that he ruined everything, along with his brothers... though he'd be lying to himself if he hadn't, on at least one occasion, thought of the bears as... friends. Back when the bears had temporarily filled in as his entourage, they helped him take Andy Bangs down. And sure, he had deleted pretty much all of those pictures he had taken with them, but he ended up being unable to bring himself to delete one. "Ugh..." he groaned. And then there was Grizz. Why was he so insistent on helping? When he showed up at that therapy session, Nom Nom was furious, and he made that plenty evident. But deep down, he was also... confused. Even after the Captain Craboo affair, Grizz still wanted to help him out. Nom Nom racked his brain, trying to understand why he specifically kept coming back. "Is it for fame?" he asked himself aloud. "Or maybe he's trying to weasel his way into getting my money..." Then he thought again about what he did today. Specifically, Nom Nom thought about the hugs. It was inexplicable. Somehow, Grizz was the one who was able to actually calm him down. He lingered on that thought for a while longer. Then he thought about how he felt whenever Grizz had hugged him. Initially, he had done it out of nowhere, and it prompted Nom Nom to try and break free. But then he realized how... soft Grizz was, and when he kept doing it to calm him down, the grizzly bear's embrace actually made him feel... safe? He tried to articulate it to himself, and now he was fixated on Grizz specifically rather than any of his brothers. He was the one who actually came to help him out, after all. Then he thought back to the entourage thing again. Back then, they had had that discussion about friendship. Nom Nom remembered how he had claimed he didn't know how to make friends, and they all seemed genuinely into... being his friends, but there was something about Grizz specifically. Grizz always seemed to be earnest in helping Nom Nom, while his brothers usually went along with it, mainly because he was their big brother. Nom Nom dismissed his earlier assumptions about Grizz. "No... he's not doing it for any sort of fame. I've been in the business long enough that I would've sensed that vibe off of him immediately." He pondered some more, though his eyelids were starting to get heavy.

Did Grizz... actually like him? Even after the things he had done?

Nom Nom wasn't dumb; he was fully aware of how he had used Grizz and his brothers to further his fame in the past and then proceeded to dismiss them like yesterday's garbage; in fact, he had done that very same thing today with Grizz. After the way he had helped him out, he ended up dismissing him, simply believing he didn't need him anymore. But then Grizz had offered that hug, and, for a second, Nom Nom thought about how he had felt happy hugging Grizz, though he didn't want to admit it to the bear. He was starting to come to a realization, but his eyelids continued to get heavier, and they slowly began to close.

"Friends, huh...?"


	2. Chapter 2

A loud, high-pitched sound woke him up. Startled, the koala quickly sat up in bed. "W--huh?" He looked towards the source of the sound and saw an alarm clock blaring loudly. The bed's size had its disadvantages, as Nom Nom was a fair distance away from the alarm clock and couldn't be bothered to make his way towards it. Already grumpy from suddenly being woken up, the koala's temper rose even further due to the incessant, loud noise. "Ugh... HEY! Somebody get in here and turn this thing off!" There was no response. Nom Nom yelled again for somebody, but again, there was no response. His temper getting close to a boiling point, he jumped out from under the sheets and made his way towards the alarm clock. "Stupid little..." He finally got a hold of the alarm clock, and his rage led to him acting without thinking. He smashed the alarm clock repeatedly onto the bedside table, harder and harder, until it ceased to function. With it finally broken, the koala panted out of exhaustion and began to make his way to the main hall. After exiting his room, he realized that both the lock on the door and the fact that his room was soundproof meant that nobody would've been able to come in anyway. Usually, he had one of his bodyguards sleep in a guest room within his bedroom so that they could take care of the alarm, but his early dismissal of everybody yesterday meant that didn't happen. Somehow, this all made him even angrier. A bodyguard was standing in the main hall near his bedroom. "Good morning, Mr. --" the koala immediately shot him a glare, and the bodyguard stopped speaking; reading the cues, he simply followed his usual orders and quietly followed behind Nom Nom. Fuming, he made his way down the stairs towards the dining area. Just as there had been last night, there were maids and other assistants making sure the mansion was spotless or speaking on phones in order to schedule appointments. Though they all noticed Nom Nom, they all kept to their business, as they noticed the sour expression on his face. After skipping out on dinner last night, Nom Nom was starving. He walked into the dining room, only to find that there was nobody there. Nom Nom yelled, and an assistant immediately came running in. "What gives?!" the koala exclaimed. "O-oh... I'm sorry, sir. I think the assigned chef for the morning is sick," the assistant responded. "You think? If you knew, then why didn't you get somebody else to come in, you nincompoop?" Between the alarm clock incident and there being no food, Nom Nom felt like he was about to explode. He began to angrily jump up and down, yelling and kicking whatever he could. Amidst his fury, he thought about Grizz. He needed him right now. He couldn't control his anger, and he needed somebody to help him contain it. Desperate, he turned to his bodyguard. "HEY, YOU! GIVE ME A HUG!" Startled, a little frightened, and confused, the bodyguard responded. "Excuse me, s--?" The koala quickly interrupted him. "JUST DO IT, IDIOT!" Without further questioning, the bodyguard took Nom Nom in his arms and hugged him. The koala continued to yell into the bodyguard's chest. It wasn't working. Muffled, Nom Nom yelled to be put down; the bodyguard did what he was told.

Nom Nom continued his tirade for several more minutes before tiring himself out. His head was throbbing with pain. Annoyed, he pondered why the hug didn't work this time before coming to a realization rather quickly. "I said it before, right to those bears," he thought to himself. "I'm basically paying these people to care about me. They don't actually care." His mind, once again, turned to Grizz, and he made a deep sigh. Too tuckered out to be angry anymore, he turned to his bodyguard and jerked his head towards the direction of his room, and the bodyguard carried him up the stairs. Nom Nom walked up to the electronic interface and selected the 'Intercom' option again. He thought to himself for several minutes before deciding on what he was about to do. Once he made his decision, he spoke into the microphone. It was one simple command.

"Everybody take the week off."

Immediately, he heard rumblings of confusion on the floor below. After a few moments, his agent came running up the stairs, gasping for air. "Nom Nom, wait! There's a ton of things on the docket for this week! What are we supposed to -- ?" The koala spoke, though it was without much energy. "Just tell them I'm taking the week off. Cancel the appointments if you can't reschedule them, I don't care. I can't take this garbage right now, OK? Nom Nom's taking a week long hiatus. It's not even that long. Shouldn't affect the popularity levels too much, right?" Shocked, the agent was speechless, and they were unable to conjure up any sort of response. Seeming a little too eager to follow orders, the bodyguard turned and began to make his way downstairs. Nom Nom stopped him before he went too far. "Hey, wait! I still need you for one last thing. Take me to the limo."


	3. Chapter 3

The bear cave was operating as usual this morning. Panda was in the bathroom, washing his face and brushing his teeth, while his younger brother had gotten up hours earlier and was already hard at work preparing breakfast. Grizz was always the last to wake up; his brothers could still hear him loudly snoring away in his room, but judging by the time, they figured he was just about to wake up.

Grizz caught the scent coming from the kitchen and slowly woke from his slumber. Ice Bear's cooking was basically his alarm clock, but it was comprised of nice smells rather than loud noises. "Mm..." the bear grunted, slowly opening his eyes. He sat up in bed, stretching and yawning in order to wake himself up more quickly. He looked outside his window, still squinting from the brightness; it was a beautiful day. He thought about how it was perfect for going out with his brothers to do something.

It took a couple more minutes of sitting in silence before he was finally able to be his usual self. He quickly hopped out of bed, stretching again. "Morning, bros!" he exclaimed in his usual loud voice; he was met with a response from Panda that he could barely hear. As Grizz walked out of his room, the scent of his younger brother's cooking came at him in full force. "Oh, maaaaan..." The grizzly bear excitedly ran up to the polar bear. "What's cooking, little bro?" The polar bear was still focused on his cooking, so it took him several seconds to respond. "Ice Bear is cooking eggs, sausage, and bacon. Also pancakes." Grizz ruffled the hair on his younger brother's head. "Sounds good!" He made his way to the table, excited to eat what his brother was cooking up. Immediately after taking his seat, Panda walked out of the bathroom, and Grizz greeted him once again. "Mornin', Pan Pan!" The panda was still a bit groggy, but he smiled at Grizz. "Hey, Grizz." He spoke quietly and made his way to the table. As soon as he took his seat, Ice Bear began to grab plates and put food onto them. For Grizz, a plate filled with eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. As Panda was vegetarian, he simply piled specially-made pancakes onto his plate, topped with strawberries. As soon as his plate had made contact with the table, Grizz immediately began shoveling food into his mouth, not even bothering to use utensils. Panda couldn't help but frown at the sight. "Aw, come on, man..." The polar bear took his apron off and retreated back into his room (which just so happened to be the fridge). All things considered, this was a usual morning at the bears' cave. Both Grizz and Panda continued eating in silence until a noise began to approach in the distance. Ice Bear's head popped out of the fridge, his left ear slightly twitching. Still caught up in eating, Grizz failed to notice the sound, and it took Panda's yelling at him for him to stop and notice. "Where's that noise coming from?" the panda inquired. He got up from his seat at the table and made his way to the window. After a few seconds of peeking outside, he made a loud, extensive groan, and he made his way back to the table, approaching Grizz. "Dude, it's Nom Nom. What does that dingle want now?" Grizz perked up. "Whoa, Nom Nom's here? Sweet!" He got up and began to make his way towards the front door before Panda grabbed his shoulder. "No, dude, not sweet. That guy only comes to us whenever he needs us to help him boost his popularity or something!" Grizz shrugged off his brother's paw. "Nah, man, it's cool! He's -- !" Before Grizz could continue, they all heard a knock at the door. "Oh! Coming!" the grizzly bear exclaimed. Not nearly as eager to actually see who it was, both the panda bear and the polar bear decided to hang back. Grizz opened the door, and he knew to look down. He immediately noticed that the koala was looking straight at the ground.

"So... hey, bears. Uh..."

Grizz's expression shifted from one of excitement to one of concern. "Nom Nom? What's up, buddy?" Panda and Ice Bear made their way to the door to see what was happening. "Well, uh..." Nom Nom was having trouble trying to get his thoughts across. "Listen... I'm taking a week long break from the biz, and in the meantime, I'm trying to avoid paparazzi or any annoying fans. Obviously, I knew this place and how out in the middle of nowhere it was, so... it made sense to come here." There was a short pause before the koala spoke up again. "So... got any space for the next week?" He finally looked up at the three bears, not sure what expression to expect on their faces. He could immediately see that Grizz's mouth was agape, almost like he was excited and wanted to respond but couldn't find the words. The other two bears' faces, however, were painted with skepticism. Ice Bear specifically was glaring right at Nom Nom.

Panda was the first to speak up. "No. No way, dude." Grizz immediately shot back. "W-wait, what? Dude, come on!" Panda kept his expression of skepticism. "Grizz, doesn't this all seem... familiar? Nom Nom comes begging for shelter and help after some PR fumble, then he just uses us for one of his dumb schemes, usually involving one or all of us getting hurt, then he ditches us as soon as he gets his way back into the limelight. Seriously. Last time this happened, we were almost mauled by sharks." Ice Bear spoke up. "Ice Bear doesn't trust evil koala."

Nom Nom expected it to go down this way. He pulled out his phone and messed with it for a while before showing it to the bears. "Look. No PR fumble here. I willingly put myself on a week-long break." He was showing the bears an article that reported on Nom Nom's announcement that had been put out by his agent. It was all over the Internet. "Yesterday, something just... snapped. I took a week off, hoping that maybe I'd come back feeling refreshed enough to not feel as overwhelmed as I do right now. All I'm asking for is a week. I'm not roping you three into any sort of scheme, OK? I just need to lay low for a while. Honest." Panda's expression began to slightly soften, though the polar bear was still unconvinced; he repeated himself. "Ice Bear doesn't trust evil koala." Grizz had been silent for a while, and he finally spoke up, speaking towards his brothers. "Come on, guys. I get how you feel, but just look at him! He seems pretty sincere to me! Also, he's totally cute! How could you say no to that face?" He giggled, prompting Nom Nom to look back towards the ground. Panda had a worried expression on his face. "I don't know, man." At that, Grizz grabbed Panda and shook him. "Come on, Pan Pan, pleeeeeeease?" He jumped up and down; it seemed he was insistent on helping Nom Nom. The panda contemplated for a while before looking back at the koala. "Ugh... promise not to be a dingle, dude? No weird plans or anything?" The koala looked back up at the panda before placing a paw on his chest. "Scout's honor." Panda sighed, and at that, he walked back into the house, looking down at his phone. Ice Bear gave the koala one more prolonged glare before talking. "Ice Bear will be watching you. Will throw you out without hesitation." Following suit, he walked back into the house, returning to his place in the fridge. It was only Grizz and Nom Nom left at the doorstep now. Trying to lighten the mood, the grizzly bear shot a smile towards the koala, and he threw his arms into the air. "Woohoo! Come on, dude! Mi casa es... uh, your casa!" He stepped aside, finally allowing Nom Nom to come inside, and he extended an arm into the cave. Nom Nom looked up at Grizz, giving him a sort of neutral expression. "Uh... thanks, Grizz." Grizz was a bit shocked to hear words of gratitude come from the koala, but he tried not to show it. "Aw, it's no problem, dude. That's what friends are for, and I wouldn't really be much of a friend if I just left you out here with nowhere to go!" Nom Nom's expression slightly shifted into one of surprise. "Y-yeah..." was all he could manage to say in response.

He finally followed the bear into the cave. The grizzly bear's support had him feeling strange. He couldn't really describe it.

When the bear had called him cute, his chest had gotten just a little tight. It wasn't a feeling the koala was familiar with, and he didn't know what it was really all about.


	4. Chapter 4

Several hours had passed, and it was now the evening. The first few hours Nom Nom had spent in the cave were awkward. Panda and Ice Bear had tried to continue the day as they normally would, but Nom Nom's presence was something that couldn't be ignored. The atmosphere had gone from peaceful in the morning to something a little more tense. Grizz, being the big brother, tried his best to maintain a "cool atmosphere," as he put it. Not entirely sure what the koala was into, he simply decided to flip to the G! news and gossip channel on TV. It was something he personally had never been into, but he figured Nom Nom would appreciate being caught up on the latest celebrity happenings. For pretty much the entire afternoon, Nom Nom had silently sat on the couch with Grizz, not sure what to make of his situation. He had spent time in the bears' cave before; the last time he was here, he had devised a scheme to get popular again, and he hadn't shied away from using the bears to reach his goal. Thinking back to that, he could certainly understand why the panda and the polar bear had their doubts. While deep in thought, he looked up at Grizz for a short while, and the grizzly bear simply smiled at him. "Yo. Need somethin'?" the bear asked. Caught off guard, the koala shook his head. "N-no, I'm fine, thanks." Nom Nom shifted his gaze back towards the TV, pretending to be interested in whatever trashy gossip show was airing at the moment. He was still puzzled as to why the grizzly bear specifically was being so hospitable. His brothers had had a reaction that he had more or less expected, but nothing about Grizz's reaction to taking him in made sense to him.

The hours passed, and dinnertime had arrived. Grizz proposed ordering a pizza, as Ice Bear had been blindsided by Nom Nom's arrival and didn't have enough ingredients to feed all four of them. With no objections, Grizz had made a call for the pizza to be delivered. Normally, Nom Nom would object, referring to pizza from a chain as "gutter trash," but even he knew better than to try and speak up, especially against that polar bear; additionally, he wasn't very hungry and didn't really care what dinner was at this point.

When the pizza finally arrived, Grizz had excitedly hopped off of the couch and ran to get it. After tipping the delivery man and thanking him, he ran to the table and placed the pizza box down, flipping the cover open and revealing the pie and its aroma to everybody. With a huge smile on his face, he exclaimed "All right, everybody, eat up!" His expression had immediately changed, however. "Oh, geez, where're my manners? Sit tight, Nom Nom. I'll get you a slice! Don't you move a muscle, buddy!"

Nom Nom would be lying to himself if he had said he wouldn't get irrationally angry at the prospect of serving himself. It was something that he had become accustomed to over the years.

The bear had indirectly saved him from an outburst again.

A few moments passed, and Grizz made his way back to the sofa; he handed a plate with a single slice of pizza to Nom Nom. "Here you go, buddy!" he exclaimed. Nom Nom silently took the plate from Grizz, mumbling a thanks in response. He wasn't planning on eating much, if at all. Aside from the fact that he wasn't hungry, the general greasiness of pizza made his stomach feel uneasy. Grizz made his way back to the couch with his own plate and sat back down on the couch beside Nom Nom while his brothers ate at the table. Still deep in thought, Nom Nom pretended to pay attention to the TV; every couple of minutes, he'd nibble at the pizza, taking in as small an amount as he could while still looking like he was eating. Several more minutes passed until something on the TV finally happened that genuinely caught the koala's interest. A dramatic voice began narrating. "This week... Nom Nom on hiatus? The widely known, adorable Internet celeb has recently announced through his agent that he's taking a break from business as usual, meaning his channel will go without updates for a week, or maybe even longer! What could this break mean? It seems as though Nom Nom is already experiencing large drops in followers and subscribers, and his videos are being bombed by dislikes as a response to the news. Is Nom Nom on the road to irrelevancy? Find out TONIGHT on..."

Before he could even hear the name of the program, Nom Nom threw his plate on the ground and began yelling. He hopped off of the sofa and began to run towards the TV, kicking the stand it was on as if that would stop the program from airing. Growing even more frustrated, he lunged at the remote and began to smash it against the floor.

At the suddenness and loudness of the koala's outburst, Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear all jumped out of their seats, not knowing what happened to cause the outburst; though Grizz had been right next to Nom Nom, he had phased out the TV's audio long ago, instead opting to think about the new trailer for an action movie that he saw earlier in the week. Startled, Panda yelled out. "OH MY GOSH, DUDE, WHAT'S HAPPENING?! MAKE IT STOP!" Grizz quickly made his way to Nom Nom. "Nom Nom, buddy, what's wrong?!" he asked the tantruming koala. Still in a blind fit of rage, Nom Nom ignored Grizz and continued to smash the TV remote to pieces. Not knowing what else to do, Grizz thought about the "anger management" he had conducted with Nom Nom. Quickly, he took Nom Nom in his arms and pressed him against his chest, the same way he did during those earlier sessions; Nom Nom's screams of anger were now muffled, and he continued to flail around for several more seconds before finally giving in. His screams had completely faded. Not sure what was happening, Panda and Ice Bear made their way to Grizz. Slowly, Grizz placed Nom Nom back onto the floor. He spoke to him, concern prevalent in his tone. "Nom Nom, buddy... are you okay?"

The koala looked up at the three bears, a calm, content smile on his face. "Yeah... yeah, I'm just fine! Nothing to worry about, fellas, haha!" Unconvinced, the three bears looked at each other, an expression of worry on each of their faces. Grizz turned back to Nom Nom. "Hey, Nom Nom... it's been a long day. Why don't you turn in for the night?" Panda chimed in. "Yeah, Grizz is right. Plus, with how busy you must've been up until now, you're probably aching to finally get some solid sleep without worrying about a daily schedule or anything." The polar bear spoke up as well. "Ice Bear thinks sleeping will result in less screaming." Nom Nom still had a smile on his face, but it was gradually faltering. "I suppose you three are right. All right, where am I sleeping?" Shocked, the three bears looked at each other; they hadn't actually given any thought as to where he'd be sleeping. The three of them asked Nom Nom to wait a second before huddling in a corner of the living room. "Well, he's not going in my room!" Panda hissed. "Ice Bear doesn't think koala would like sleeping in fridge," the polar bear said in a hushed tone. Grizz spoke up. "Ah, don't worry, bros, I got this." They broke out of formation and approached Nom Nom. "Feel free to sleep in my room for the week, dude," Grizz said. "Uh, y'know, it might be a bit messy in there, but... dude, I can totally vouch for how soft the bed is. It's perfect!" he exclaimed. "Besides, we wouldn't be great guests if we made you sleep on the couch!" The smile on Nom Nom's face had faded; he was now feeling the exhaustion that came whenever he went on one of his tirades. "Sure, whatever, that's fine. Which way is it?" he asked. He was ready to fall asleep right then and there. Grizz pointed him in the direction of his room, and Nom Nom slowly trudged towards the door. "Uh... night, Nom Nom!" the grizzly bear exclaimed, a tinge of worry in his voice. Nom Nom simply waved a claw in the air behind him. "Yeah." With that, he opened the door, slamming it behind him. Even after being calmed down, being brought back to his senses showed that he was still angry, even as his energy was fading with each passing moment.

The room was filthy; there really was no better word when it came to describing it. Several different kinds of wrappers littered the floor, along with empty cans and bottles. Nom Nom sighed. He was incredibly annoyed by the state of the room, but he didn't have any more energy to devote to another outburst; though it's not like he could control them anyways. Slowly, he climbed his way to the top of the bed. It, too, was a mess, but the koala, wanting to just lay down, tried to ignore that fact and found his way under the covers. Grizz's scent seemed to cling inexorably to the sheets, and this prompted the koala to make a sound of disgust; however, as he lay there, the scent almost forced him to think about the grizzly bear. Once again, the bear had been able to put him at ease. What was it about Grizz that made him able to do that for Nom Nom? Frustrated, Nom Nom put both paws to his face and slowly slid them down off of his face; he was struggling to understand, but ever since he had arrived, he had realized something.

Grizz gave him a weird feeling.

He couldn't place it, but there was a certain... tightness to his chest that the koala felt whenever Grizz was nice to him. It was a foreign sensation, and he had no way of being able to articulate how that tightness in his chest made him feel. It was a mix of things. It made him feel anxious, even a little bit sad, but he also felt a tinge of... happiness at the bear's concern. All Nom Nom knew was that he was confused. Electing not to think about it anymore, he forced his eyes shut in an attempt to drift into a state of unconsciousness; at least then he wouldn't have to think about all of this. Slowly but surely, Nom Nom drifted to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Nom Nom suddenly found himself back in his mansion. It seemed to be the middle of the day. Feeling a bit dazed, he realized he was in his room. Immediately, he got out of bed and exited the room, expecting to see a bodyguard stationed by the room. Instead, he found nobody was there. Confused, he made his way down the stairs. "Hey! Where are you all?" he yelled, a knot beginning to tie in his stomach. Where there were usually several people doing their daily tasks, now, none were to be found. His heartbeat quickening, Nom Nom ran to several other rooms only to be met with the same result. He began to panic. The mansion was beginning to appear increasingly run-down. He ran out into the main living room, and he found the television on. It was intensely loud, and it was tuned to the same program he had seen back in the bears' cave. Along with a chyron reading "NOM NOM GOES BANKRUPT," two gossip reporters were discussing Nom Nom's fall from grace.

His videos were pulling in a couple of thousand views on average, while other established Internet celebrities were consistently pulling in views in the millions. As he continued to watch the report in horror, his phone began to vibrate; upon pulling it out and unlocking it, he saw his follower and friend counts begin to dwindle at a rapid pace, and he was getting hundreds of messages calling him out on his aggressive behavior and outbursts. The blaringly loud audio from the TV began to give him a headache, and his heartbeat was quickening with each passing moment. Not knowing what else to do, the koala began screaming, though this time, it came from a position of terror rather than anger. His lungs felt like they were going to give out, yet he kept screaming.


	6. Chapter 6

"--om! Hey! Nom Nom!" Grizz had rushed into the room; though he had fallen asleep on the couch, he was awoken by the sudden screams from Nom Nom. Upon entering the room, he found Nom Nom trapped beneath the sheets, wildly flailing around. Assuming it was another outburst, Grizz quickly tossed the sheets aside, and he enveloped Nom Nom in a hug. The force of the sheets being torn off of the bed and Grizz grabbing him was enough to wake Nom Nom, though he didn't expect to immediately be met with a faceful of fur. He immediately pushed away from Grizz, telling him to stop. Grizz placed him back on the bed, a worried expression still painted on his face. "Dude, are you alright? What happened? Why'd you get angry again?" Nom Nom, trying to gather his thoughts, rubbed his eyes before responding. He was slightly out of breath. "I-it wasn't that again. I had a nightmare." Grizz's expression softened a little. "Aw, man, sorry about that. Are you feeling all right, though?" It took Nom Nom a few moments to respond, and he finally looked up at Grizz. He looked... genuinely worried. Unable to keep staring for very long, Nom Nom turned his gaze away. "Y-yeah.. I'm fine." Grizz wasn't convinced, though he smiled a little in an attempt to comfort the koala. "Well... all right. I'll let you get back to it, then. Get some rest, buddy. Night!" With that, Grizz turned to walk out of the room. After he had taken a few paces, without thinking, Nom Nom yelled out after him. "Wait, Grizz!" Startled, Grizz turned his head around. Unsure of what to say, there were several seconds of silence before Nom Nom spoke up again. "Could you... stay?" Grizz fully turned his body around after hearing that. "Well, sure, dude, If it makes you feel better!" Nom Nom shifted to one side of the bed to make space for Grizz. As the grizzly bear laid down on the bed, it made a heavy creaking sound. Aside from that, there were no sounds for several minutes. Nom Nom was sitting up, simply staring straight at the room's door. He wasn't entirely sure why he had called out for the bear to stay. He had nothing to say. Grizzly simply tapped a rhythm on his belly for a few minutes before finally breaking the ice. "So, uh... what happened there?" Confused, Nom Nom looked up at him. "I mean, with the nightmare. Must've been pretty scary, huh?" Nom Nom looked straight ahead again. "No. It was nothing. It was just about me losing everything regarding my fame and popularity! Haha." A nervous chuckle escaped Nom Nom. Grizz sat up upon hearing that. "Whoa. Sounds pretty heavy. Why'd you have a nightmare about something like that, though?" Nom Nom thought for a moment. "Well... it sort of ties into why I'm here in the first place. I mean, you know about my whole... anger problem, don't you?" Grizz simply nodded in response, allowing Nom Nom to continue. "After that whole thing with The Corgis, it felt like that sort of stuff was becoming increasingly, worryingly common. I started getting irrationally angry at an alarm clock, for crying out loud. So... I thought that, by getting away from all of the usual stuff for a while, I'd be able to get a handle on it. Y'know, like some sort of refresher. Maybe I'd get to a point where it wasn't even a problem anymore." Nom Nom looked down at his paws as he twiddled them. "But... I don't know. Maybe coming here wasn't even the right call. Feels like I can't get a handle on it no matter what." Immediately, Nom Nom felt Grizz's paw on his shoulder; he had a radiant smile on his face, as if to comfort Nom Nom with his show of support. "No way, dude! I'm sure you'll figure something out. You're Nom Nom! Cutest animal on the web and all that stuff!" A small smile cracked on Nom Nom's face. "You think so?" Grizz nodded. "I know so, man!"

Nom Nom had that weird feeling again. His chest tightened a little. He felt a little warm, too.

He felt... happy. Like he had somebody finally caring about him. It wasn't something he had ever felt with his tons of assistants and bodyguards, that's for sure. His smile towards the grizzly bear widened considerably. "Thanks, Grizz." His paw was still on his shoulder. He felt inclined to brush it off, but... it was soft, and it felt nice, so he didn't. Nom Nom felt his heartbeat quicken, though it wasn't out of anxiety like in the dream. He felt nervous, but also comfortable. This feeling was, somehow, even weirder, but Nom Nom felt content.

Grizz finally took his paw off of Nom Nom's shoulders. He turned his head to get a good look at the clock he had on the bedside table. "Man, it's late. I forgot I had been asleep on the couch for a while." He looked at Nom Nom, who had also been looking at him. "Uh... did you... want some space? I'll head back into the living room if you wanna get some shut-eye," he said. Nom Nom immediately yelled. "No!" Grizz jumped. "Uh, I mean... do you... mind staying, Grizz?" Grizz flashed a smile on his face. "Of course I don't mind, man! I'm not gonna turn down the chance to sleep in my bed!" He let out a loud laugh, before realizing that he might wake his brothers; at that, he quickly covered his mouth with his paws. He shifted his position, making sure he could get under the sheets, and he spread them out so as not to leave the koala uncovered. He settled into his position and closed his eyes, a paw resting on his belly. "Alright, buddy, try and get some rest! See you in the morning!" Nom Nom quietly responded. "Yeah. Night, Grizz." Nom Nom tried to fall asleep to no avail. With Grizz next to him, he felt a warmth emanating from the grizzly bear. Just like the paw on his shoulder, it made him feel happy, but his heartbeat was still pumping at a relatively fast pace; he was still feeling a sort of anxiety. He continued to lay in silence for a few more minutes before calling out to Grizz. "Hey, Grizz?" In response, Grizz's eyes shot open. "What's up, Nom Nom?"

Nom Nom wasn't sure why he asked what he was about to ask, but he did it anyway.

"Could I get a... hug?"

As soon as he heard that, Grizz shot up in bed, assuming he had misheard. "What's that?" Nom Nom clarified. "I mean, uh... well, you know how it affected me from all that anger management junk. My nerves are still a little shot from the nightmare is all, so I thought it'd help... y'know? Sorry." Grizz flashed another smile at Nom Nom. "Dude, you kiddin'? Even when you were a little ball of pure anger and destruction, I couldn't help handing out those hugs, especially since they ended up helping you out!" Grizz giggled, and he extended his arms outward. "Aww, c'mere, you rascal!" At that, he swiftly swooped Nom Nom up and pressed him against his chest in a big bear hug. Nom Nom didn't expect it to happen so suddenly, but he immediately felt at ease. His heartbeat quickened a little more, which he didn't expect; if anything, he thought the hug would get him relaxed. Either way, unlike in the anger management sessions, he didn't resist the grizzly bear's embrace. Instead, he softly pressed himself against Grizz. He had a scent about him that wasn't wholly pleasant, but the warmth and softness of the grizzly bear's fur made Nom Nom feel... secure. It made him think about that farewell hug that Grizz had given him back at the studio after the Corgis shoot; back then, for a moment, he had let his guard completely down, and even though it was something that was held deep down, Nom Nom had wanted the hug to last longer than it should have. Now, he didn't have to act like he had any objections. He was slowly coming to the realization that he didn't just like the hugs because they put a stop to his sudden outbursts.

He liked them because they were from Grizz.

Though Nom Nom's heartbeat was still relatively quick, he also felt like he could fall asleep at any moment. His eyes were closed, and he began to loosen up right as Grizz pulled out of the hug. This startled Nom Nom. "Feelin' better, dude?" Grizz inquired. Going from the soft, warm sensation of the hug to being instantly pulled out of it was almost enough to infuriate him, mostly because it was so sudden. Without even realizing it, he glared at Grizz and yelled. "NO!" Grizz's expression shifted to one of sadness. "Whoa... I'm sorry, man. I guess the hugs don't work anymore, huh?" Realizing what he had unknowingly done, Nom Nom quickly corrected himself, easing his expression. Seeing Grizz disappointed like that actually made him feel... sad. "N-no, they do! Shoot, sorry. I... I just wasn't expecting you to pull me out of that one so suddenly. Uh..." Grizz's face was painted with confusion. Nom Nom simply extended his arms towards Grizz, as if signaling for another hug. "Do you mind, uh... keeping it going?" Grizz's expression shifted back to a smile. "Sure, buddy. Let's see here..." Grizz turned his head around to make sure he was lined up with the bed. Not wanting to keep sitting up, Grizz, again, took Nom Nom in his arms and pressed him against his chest in an embrace while simultaneously laying back onto the bed. Nom Nom was startled as Grizz slightly adjusted himself. "All right! Is that good? I figure like this, I can keep the ol' hug train going even as I'm falling asleep!" He laughed at himself again. Now amazed at the fact that Grizz was basically acting as his bed, Nom Nom adjusted himself slightly. "Uh... yeah, that's good." Grizz's response was quick. "Cool. Night, Nom Nom!" At that, he stopped speaking, attempting to finally get some extended rest for the night.

Though Grizz's grip on Nom Nom relaxed as he fell asleep, it was still there. In this state, Nom Nom had more freedom to move around, especially since he was basically laying on top of Grizz. Once again, he slowly shifted himself, slightly pressing his body further against Grizz's. The warmth emanating from Grizz's body and his fur was comforting to Nom Nom in a way that seemed almost impossible for him to comprehend. At this point, Grizz was already snoring; his belly slowly rose and fell as he snored. The snoring was loud, but for some reason, Nom Nom didn't seem to mind all that much. Just as before, he closed his eyes and found himself quickly loosening up.

Grizz was loud, obnoxiously so sometimes, but Nom Nom had felt like he was becoming strangely used to it in that the idea of it no longer seemed to irritate him. Additionally, the grizzly bear wasn't a beacon of hygiene either, but that, too, didn't seem to deter Nom Nom. After all the grizzly bear had done to help him recently, Nom Nom was beginning to realize the meanings behind the things he had felt towards the bear. Grizz was somebody who genuinely cared about him, he realized. Even when the koala had done the worst things, Grizz had come back, time and time again, to try and repair the relationship. Nom Nom still didn't understand why, but he was grateful that Grizz was so willing to always lend a helping hand. Slowly and gently, Nom Nom ran a claw through Grizz's fur; it really was soft, he thought. Even with the gentle stroke, Grizz slightly giggled in reaction, and he scratched at the fur with one of his paws before placing it back around Nom Nom and continuing his snoring; it seemed as if he was able to do all that without actually waking up.

As Grizz's paw wrapped back around Nom Nom, he once again felt that sensation of warmth and caring coming from Grizz, and as he slowly began to drift to sleep, he once again had an epiphany.

He really, really liked Grizz. He didn't know entirely why, but he did.


	7. Chapter 7

"Agh!" Nom Nom shot up, momentarily unsure of where he was. It took him a moment to reorient himself and realize where he was, and he soon realized that Grizz was gone.

It was morning, and it seemed as if Grizz had quietly left at some point, leaving Nom Nom alone in the room. He got out of the bed, slowly rubbing his eyes, and he made his way to the living room. It was completely silent. "Grizz?" Nom Nom's voice bellowed throughout the house. There was no response. "Uh... other bears?" Again, no response. Nom Nom walked around through the house for a while longer before noticing a note on the table in front of the couch. He swiped it up, curious as to what was going on. The note read:

"Morning, Nom Nom! If you're reading this, you're probably wondering where we're at. I went out with my bros to get some groceries 'n junk, but we'll be back soon. I figured you wouldn't wanna come what with the whole 'laying low' thing. Anyways, see ya in a bit!

Love,  
Grizz"

Embarrassed at the letter's ending, Nom Nom folded it in half and took it with him. "Geez. Come on," he muttered to himself. Nom Nom was a little hungry, but he was mostly bored. This was the first morning in years where he didn't have to immediately worry about his schedule the moment he woke up. He thought it'd be nice to not have to worry about that for at least a week, but he was quickly starting to realize that he had become so used to that daily routine by this point that he now found himself bored out of his mind without it. Nom Nom impatiently tapped a foot on the ground. "Ugh... there's gotta be something to do in here," he muttered to himself. With all of the bears gone, this was an opportunity for Nom Nom to better acquaint himself with the layout of the cave. The last time he had been in the cave was because of his scheme to get popular again, but even then, he had spent most of his time in the dining area and living room coming up with ideas. He glanced in the direction of Grizz and Panda's rooms. Grizz's door remained open, while Panda's was shut. His gaze shifted to Panda's room specifically. "Hmm..." the koala pondered to himself for a moment before shrugging. "Sure, why not?" He approached the door and jumped to reach the handle. Barely able to reach it, he struggled to turn the handle for a few seconds before finally getting the door opened. Upon hearing the door's click, he let go of the handle and pushed the door open, revealing Panda's room.

It was considerably cleaner than Grizz's room. "Seems like the panda actually gives a thought to organization," Nom Nom commented aloud. He scanned the room. Panda's bed was neatly made, and sitting atop it were several plushies. Nom Nom's gaze shifted to underneath the bed, where a pillow seemed to be peeking out. Curious, he walked over to the bed, and he leaned down in order to pull the pillow out. He was finally able to get a better look at it; for some reason, the pillow was long and thin, and on it was a design of what appeared to be an anime girl design. She had purple hair and blue eyes, and she was gesturing a peace sign. Nom Nom stared at the pillow for several seconds, utterly befuddled. "What... is this?" he asked himself, still unsure of what he was looking at. "That panda bear really is something. Geez." He shoved the pillow back under the bed and shifted his gaze somewhere else. To the left of the bed was a computer desk; a laptop sat on the desk in sleep mode, and a small computer chair was tucked into the desk. Nom Nom took the chair out and hopped onto it, standing on it in order to reach the laptop. He moved the mouse around in order to wake the laptop up only to be met with a login screen. Nom Nom groaned. "Figures. I don't know what I expected." He had hoped it was unlocked. He'd be lying to himself if he said he didn't wanna snoop, at least a little. Disappointed, Nom Nom hopped off of the chair and tucked it back in. There was nothing else in the room that was especially notable, so Nom Nom finally decided to leave the room. He made sure to close the door behind him; he can't imagine the panda bear would be too happy if he found out he was in there. He expected to be more entertained by the room since he had never been in there, but it ended up being largely uninteresting. He was starting to become more irritated.

He stormed back into Grizz's room, unsure of what to do. It looked even messier during the day. "Oh, come on! Is this place really that boring?!" he yelled. He looked around the room; all he found were more wrappers, bottles and other assorted trash. Nom Nom seemed on the verge of another outburst, but he noticed something on the ground that caught his attention. It was buried beneath an empty chip bag, but Nom Nom quickly threw it aside. He found a DVD with nothing other than "Crowbar Jones: THE RECKONING" written on it, sloppily, in marker. Not sure what to make of it, he flipped it over. Surprisingly, even though it seemed like it had been tossed aside, there were just a few slight scratches on the back of the disc. He flipped it back over, looking at the writing again. "Is this some sort of bootleg copy of a movie or something?" he asked himself. "Not anything I've ever heard of..." Nom Nom began looking around the room for anything he could use to see what was on the DVD. He noticed a small CRT television in one corner of the room with a DVD player stacked on top of it and made his way towards it. It looked like it was manufactured 20 or so years ago. Nom Nom chuckled. "Man, this thing is ooooooooold. Can't believe he doesn't at least have a plasma or anything." A small remote control was lying near the TV; Nom Nom picked it up, shaking it to see if it actually had any batteries in it. After giving it a fair shake, it seemed as if the remote was empty. Annoyed, Nom Nom tossed it aside and simply pressed the power button on the TV. Slowly, it flickered to life, showing just a blue screen with a line in the upper left indicating it was set to the DVD input. "Let's see here..." The koala shifted his attention to the DVD player sitting on top of the TV. Upon closer inspection, he noticed how dusty it was. Without thinking, he tried to blow the layer of dust on the DVD player off in an attempt to clean it, but he was instead met with a faceful of dust. Disgusted, he fanned the air in front of his face with his free paw and coughed. "UGH, CLEAN YOUR ROOM, BEAR!" he yelled, even though nobody was around to hear it. His anger was steadily rising, but he didn't want to have another outburst. He hurriedly pressed the 'Open' button on the DVD player and placed the disc into the tray as it slowly extended out of the player. After closing it and hitting the 'Play' button, he moved and sat a couple of feet away from the TV. "This better be good," he muttered to himself. He sat in silence for a few seconds as the DVD player processed the disc. Abruptly, the DVD began playing, and Grizz was the first thing to show up on screen. He was looking away from the camera, a serious expression stuck on his face. He had a small, blue clip-on bowtie attached to his fur, and he was wearing what looked like part of a mop sitting on his head. He turned to face the camera and raised his fist at it, loudly yelling "Crowbar Jones!" Nom Nom was a bit surprised. "He made this? Heh." Grizz proceeded to narrate the story of Crowbar Jones, all while a montage of him doing stunts in front of a pinned up sheet played. Nom Nom couldn't help but laugh. "Man, this is terrible! But... it kind of works!" He continued watching. Grizz employed editing (though that was pretty bad, too, Nom Nom thought) for his special effects, one of which showed a stick figure held by Grizz's paw slowly moving away from a basketball hastily painted over to look like Earth, all on a backdrop of a space-themed bedsheet. It was all so terrible, but Nom Nom couldn't stop watching. He was strangely fixated on it, and he cracked a small smile every time Grizz showed up on screen. He looked ridiculous, but he was having fun. No idea how long the "movie" actually was, Nom Nom just kept watching. The plot was nonsensical; at some point, Crowbar Jones found himself in a fight against hundreds of robot snakes ("Wait, where did they even come from?"); he called out to his companion, Pando, who was just Grizz in a pair of huge glasses and a black-and-white striped sweater, an obvious rib on his little brother. His voice was nasally, and he constantly complained. Nom Nom broke out in laughter. "Haha! He really is that whiny, isn't he?" The movie just kept going and going, but Nom Nom wasn't really keeping track of the time. He was fascinated by how bad, but somehow enjoyable, the movie was. He continued watching the movie, until suddenly, the front door to the house burst open. Startled, Nom Nom jumped up. He ran up to the TV, trying to fiddle with the volume controls. Grizz was loudly talking to his brothers about some movie he had seen recently. They were all carrying paper bags filled with groceries. "Man, you guys should really watch it with me some time. Oh! Let me check on Nom Nom, see if he's doing alright." He quickly ran to the table and set his bags onto it before running into his room. "Hey, Nom Nom, what's --?" He saw Nom Nom messing with the TV, and he saw Crowbar Jones playing on it. He gasped, running up to Nom Nom. "Oh, dude, you're watching Crowbar Jones? So, what'd you think?" he asked, bouncing up and down excitedly. Nom Nom stopped messing with the TV and looked at Grizz. "Oh... it was... nothing special, really." Grizz's smile instantly deflated. "Oh... really? Huh. O-OK." Nom Nom noticed the look on Grizz's face. In displaying his usual attitude, he didn't usually care about how people responded to the things he said, but Grizz seemed to take it especially hard. Nom Nom's expression changed into one of concern. "I mean... listen, it had some flaws, but it was all right, especially the part with Pando! The editing was pretty sloppy, too, but... it had heart," he said, a light chuckle escaping him. He quickly covered his mouth with his paws. Just as quickly as it had dissipated, the smile on Grizz's face reappeared. "Oh, you liked that part with Pando? Man, I worked sooooooo hard for months shooting it, haha!" Seeing Grizz ecstatic about receiving praise on the movie gave Nom Nom that same feeling again. He was actually starting to feel relaxed just seeing Grizz happy like that; he now felt compelled to tone down his usual attitude whenever he was around him. It felt strange but also like the right thing to do when he was around the grizzly bear.

He found himself showing Grizz a warm smile without even really realizing it.

Grizz continued rambling about the movie until he noticed Nom Nom's expression. He flashed a wide smile back at Nom Nom before gasping. "Oh, I almost forgot! You're probably starving, huh?" He rushed back into the dining area, and Nom Nom followed as Grizz continued speaking. He was now digging through one of the paper bags he had set on the table. "So, when we were out at the market, I was thinkin'... koalas probably have pretty different diets from bears, right? So I asked Pan Pan for his phone and went on the ol' Goog and looked up koala diets, and, uh..." He finally pulled what he was looking for out of the paper bag. It was a clear, plastic package of eucalyptus leaves. He held them out towards Nom Nom. "Apparently koalas are wild about this stuff! You didn't seem to be too into the pizza from last night, so... I thought something like this'd be more your speed!" Nom Nom stared at the package for a moment, noticing that the quality was subpar and not even close to matching the kind he ate back at the mansion, though he couldn't help smiling at the grizzly bear. "Oh... uh, thanks, Grizz." Grizz smiled back. "Ah, don't worry about it! Oh, and let me know if there's a specific kind you like, and I can try and get some for you next time we're out shoppin'!" Grizz was radiating happiness.

Grizz's attitude seemed to be affecting Nom Nom. When Grizz had asked him what he thought of his movie, Nom Nom shifted to an attitude that he used to use around Grizz when he was on less friendly terms with both him and his brothers, but something about it didn't feel right anymore. Maybe it was Grizz's pure happiness and enthusiasm rubbing off on him, but it made Nom Nom want to be a little... softer, at least towards Grizz. Speaking of his brothers, Nom Nom glanced in their direction; they had both put their share of groceries away and were now relaxing by watching TV. Nom Nom still felt pretty aloof from them, especially the polar bear. Ice Bear seemed to still be holding a grudge based on the Captain Craboo incident. Grizz’s insistence on them being good guests to Nom Nom was the only thing keeping him from instantly throwing the koala out of the cave. Since he couldn’t do that, he elected to simply ignore Nom Nom. Panda, on the other hand, didn’t seem too concerned about Nom Nom; he trusted his big brother’s judgment in this case, but he still tried to steal a glance of concern towards Nom Nom every once in awhile when he wasn’t looking, making sure he wasn’t scheming anything or acting suspiciously in general. Nom Nom wasn’t sure what to do in order to gain their trust back; if not for Grizz’s open-mindedness towards him, even after the things he had done in the past, he really wouldn’t have had anywhere to go to lay low.

Speaking of laying low, Nom Nom momentarily thought about his several assistants and bodyguards and what they were doing. It had been over a day since he had made the decision to call them off for the week and lay low with the bears. Thinking about them and his mansion served only to remind him of the nightmare from last night; he began to grow nervous. He hadn’t actually checked his social media accounts since getting his agent to make the announcement. The only thing he had seen was that annoying “report” made by those gossip reporters. A knot twisted in his stomach. He was scared of what he’d see if he checked his accounts, but he did it anyway. If he didn’t, it’d very quickly eat at him, likely leading to another outburst. He placed the package of eucalyptus leaves he had still been holding on the table and pulled out his phone, and he quickly opened up two of his most used accounts. Upon seeing that his follower and friend counts were largely unaffected by the news, he breathed a sigh of relief. He actually ended up seeing several concerned messages from fans, many of whom simply thought he was sick. “Get better, Nom Nom!” and “Nooooo, come back, Nom Nom!” were the two sentiments shared most by fans. It seemed as though, for the time being, he had nothing to worry about.

But deep down, a part of Nom Nom began questioning himself.

“Why do you care about a bunch of people you’ve never met? Do you actually care about them? What if they all forget about you tomorrow because they just... moved on to the next big thing? Are those kinds of people actually worth caring about? And what about the other stuff? The fame, the world-class chefs, the mansion… do any of those things make you happy? Don’t you still end up waking up every day, hating just about everybody around you while you put on a fake persona out there in an attempt to be liked because you know practically nobody likes the real you? There’s a part of you deep down that wants those followers and subscribers to ditch you so you don’t have to cater to them anymore, isn’t there? Then you could spend time with the people you actually care about, like—”

He was beginning to grow incredibly irritated; before he wound up having another outburst, Nom Nom instead decided to put his phone away, shifting his attention away from that whole thing for the time being. His stomach rumbled; he was now realizing how hungry he was, especially after barely touching that pizza last night. He grabbed the package of eucalyptus leaves and opened it, grabbing a few and taking a seat at the table, away from the bears, who had all gathered in front of the TV and were discussing various things. “Can’t be picky…” he groaned. Nom Nom chewed on the leaves; though they weren’t the best, they’d do.

Grizz had pulled through for him. Again.


	8. Chapter 8

The day went on, and it was peaceful, even by the bears’ standards. The bears had had lunch; Grizz had offered some of it to Nom Nom, who refused, opting to instead continue chewing on the eucalyptus leaves Grizz had given him. Panda and Ice Bear were now getting ready to head out, but Grizz had decided to stay behind with Nom Nom, not wanting to leave him by himself after he had already woke up. Having made some tea, the polar bear walked up to the two of them who had been sitting at the dining room table. He handed Grizz his cup and turned to face Nom Nom. His expression was still aloof, but it had a hint of suspicion. Upon putting the cup within Nom Nom’s reach, the koala quickly grabbed the cup. “Uh… thanks.” He sipped on the tea, waiting for Ice Bear to leave. There was still something about his behavior that was unsettling to Nom Nom. Ice Bear was clearly still apprehensive, but Nom Nom wasn’t sure what to do about it. Panda was in the bathroom getting himself ready to go out. “You sure you don’t wanna come, Grizz?” he asked. Charlie had invited all three of the bears to a “party” in the forest. “Yeah,” Grizz shouted back. “Tell him I’m always down to hang out some other time. Don’t wanna leave Nom Nom here by himself! Dude’s probably bored to tears.” He looked at Nom Nom, who was still lost in thought, mindlessly chewing on eucalyptus leaves. Grizz nodded. “Yup. He seems pretty bored. Anyways, you guys have fun!” Panda was exiting the restroom, and Ice Bear was beginning to head outside. “Alright, man,” Panda said. “See you later, then!” With that, he closed the front door behind him and headed to Charlie’s with his younger brother.

The sound of the door closing suddenly brought Nom Nom back to reality. Only now did he realize that he was alone with Grizz.

Nom Nom’s heartbeat began to quicken. There was that feeling again, he thought. Attempting to seem his usual self, Nom Nom opted to “casually” stare out the kitchen window, still chewing on eucalyptus leaves. He knew it was only a matter of time before —

“So… Nom Nom! Whatcha up to? Well, aside from eating, I mean.” The koala turned his gaze back to Grizz, still trying to maintain his composure. “Why in the world do I feel like this?” Nom Nom yelled at himself internally. He wanted to kick himself. His chewing slowed to a halt as he swallowed the leaves he had been eating. “Uh... n-not much,” he replied. Grizz’s carefree expression quickly changed; he could easily see something was bothering Nom Nom despite the koala’s best intentions to conceal it. “Something wrong, dude? I’m glad you’re eating, but you still look a little uneasy.” Grizz paused for a moment before speaking again. “Oh… still thinking about the nightmare, huh?”

Nom Nom fidgeted nervously in his seat. He’d never be more grateful for that to be brought up over his feelings for Grizz than right now. Anything to distract him from having to confront those incomprehensible feelings. “Y-yeah,” he muttered, taking a sip of his tea. “I mean... I don’t know.” Grizz cocked his head to the side, an expression of concern still spread across his face. Nom Nom continued. “You know... I’ve spent so much of my life cultivating that stupid Internet personality because I thought it’d finally be the thing to make me happy after all this time. Having a huge amount of fans, followers, and subscribers, worldwide renown and success, a huge mansion, tons of money, the highest quality of life I could possibly hope to have… I guess I’m finding out that none of that actually makes me particularly happy.” Nom Nom sarcastically chuckled to himself and thoughtfully took another sip of tea. Grizz was uncharacteristically quiet for once, choosing not to chime in while Nom Nom sorted through his frustration. After a few moments of silence, Nom Nom continued. “The weeks leading up to me coming here were miserable. I’d wake up every morning with a massive headache, angry at everybody around me until I had to make an appearance somewhere or film something and suddenly pretend I wasn’t. And that bottled up anger just got more and more explosive as the days went on and on...” Grizz kept his focus on Nom Nom. He had never seen the koala look as tired and defeated as he was at this moment. “I’m starting to question whether a week off is even enough,” Nom Nom mused aloud, staring up at the ceiling, his brow furrowed. Another few moments of silence passed before Nom Nom loudly groaned in frustration. He slid the cup of tea he was holding across the table away from himself and planted his face onto the table, crossing his paws behind his head in a sort of gesture of defeat. Nom Nom remained in this position, expecting the usual cheery response from Grizz to come at any moment. But it didn’t come. Nom Nom almost wanted to lift his head to look at Grizz, but he decided against it; even looking at Grizz lately made him feel weird. On top of the stress he was under, Nom Nom didn’t want to have to deal with that as well.

Still no response from Grizz. Nom Nom, for the first time, was apparently the one who had to speak up first among the two of them after an awkward silence, even if his face was still planted face down onto the table. “Grizz, are you still th—“

The feeling of large, furry paws wrapping around him and lifting him startled him. “H-hey!” Grizz turned Nom Nom around so he was facing him and then proceeded to hold him close to his chest in what was usually an anger-suppressing hug. “Dude... why didn’t you tell me sooner? Y’know I would’ve been there in a flash if I knew you were feeling that stressed out.” For the first time, Nom Nom didn’t struggle to get out of Grizz’s hug the moment he was enraptured in it. Not having the energy to do so even if he wanted to, Nom Nom elected instead to press his face into the grizzly bear’s fur and stretch his arms out to hug Grizz back as much as he possibly could. He didn’t care anymore, mostly because the bear’s brothers weren’t around to witness this.

...And there was that feeling again. His chest tightened, and his heartbeat was quickening at a rapid pace; Grizz would no doubt be able to feel it this time with how close their bodies were pressed against one another during the hug.

“...Thanks, Grizz,” Nom Nom uttered into Grizz’s soft fur, his response coming out incredibly muffled. Grizz giggled at the feeling that gave off in his chest. “No problem, buddy. And you can stay as long as you want if a week isn’t enough. It’s no big deal! I know I can convince my bros, and I don’t mind sleeping on the couch for a while longer, either; it’s pretty comfy, actually!” Grizz laughed to himself. His left paw found itself gently cradling Nom Nom’s head during the embrace, and Grizz had ended up softly rubbing the koala’s head in an effort to be more comforting in the moment. Immediately, Nom Nom flinched. He felt his whole body becoming warm. “O-OK, that’s enough, Grizz, let me go!” He started to wriggle out of the bear’s grasp, and Grizz let him down as soon as he received the signal. “O-oh... sorry if that bothered you,” the bear replied. “I should’ve guessed that you hate getting your fur ruffled like that. My bad!” Grizz attempted to “fix” his mistake by further touching the top of Nom Nom’s head in an effort to position his fur the way it had been before until the koala anxiously swatted Grizz’s paws away. “I’m fine, really!” his voice was raised to what was practically a shout. This time, Grizz was the one to flinch, snapping his paws back towards himself. Nom Nom noticed the hurt expression on Grizz’s face but was too flustered to say much more. The koala’s eyes darted around, desperate to find an out. “I’m gonna go... take a nap.” Nom Nom hurriedly turned around and made his way to Grizz’s room, closing the door behind him. “Alright... um… have a nice nap, Nom Nom...!” Grizz yelled out from the living room.

He couldn’t help but feel as if he had done something wrong.

Inside Grizz’s room, Nom Nom was pacing back and forth with his paws over his face, his heart feeling like it was practically about to jump out of his chest. The pacing didn’t calm him down. He clutched his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat.

Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it,” he angrily whispered to himself. That indescribable feeling was persisting longer than it ever had previously. The way Grizz’s paw softly grazed against his fur... it made Nom Nom feel warm. But it also scared him. Realizing how useless pacing was in calming his nerves, Nom Nom instead sat on the floor, leaning his body against the foot of Grizz’s bed.

“Deep breaths, Nom Nom… deep breaths.” As he breathed in and out slowly for a few minutes, Nom Nom’s heartbeat finally began to return to its normal rate.

He stared at the bedroom’s door. He could hear Grizz laughing outside the room; he must’ve been watching TV, Nom Nom thought to himself. The sound of the bear’s laughter was enough to give Nom Nom that weirdly warm feeling again.

His eyes widened.

And he suddenly understood those feelings that he previously considered to be incomprehensible.

It was something he hadn’t ever felt before, after all.


End file.
